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i choose date number 2! whooo! [ sigh of relief ] [ male announcer ] choose taste. choose prego. [ shooting ] >> so amid the gun debate, the violence question is another big one and whether or not violent video games like the one we just showed you have are any influence. coming up we will talk to a representative of the video game industry. hi, everybody, great to have you with me, i'm thomas roberts, you are watching msnbc, and did you know that 2012 was the hottest year on record, ever. glaciers are melting at a rapid rate and crops is destroyed by record drought. is this the new normal, plus this. >> i can't give you a precise number at this point. >> numbers are not going make a difference to the situation in

afghanistan. >> but the numbers will matter those fighting in afghanistan and families at home. what the next year will be like for them and what we will need to do to keep afghanistan from slipping back to the hands of the taliban. the white house must first deal with the spending and the looming debt ceiling and if congress refuses to raise the debt ceiling coming up, the u.s. go in default. that could trigger a worse economy reaction than we feared in the fiscal cliff situation. we have the latest. if republicans refuse to raise the debt ceiling there's the possibility that the president can work around the congress, but it's likely. >> there are a couple of possibilities that are being floated around, thomas. one is that the white house could use the 14th amendment, that would allow the president to increase the debt ceiling

without congress' approval, and it says validity of the public debt of the united states shall not be questioned. some democrats wrote a letter to the white house on friday saying it gives the president the authority to increase the debt ceiling unilaterally, and another option that is floated is to essentially mint a platinum coin worth a trillion dollars. this is a idea that dates back to a 1997 appropriations bill that deals with the issue. the white house saying they do not believe that this gives nem the authority to mint a trillion dollars coin. they feel they need to go through congress to get the debt increased. there's question how it will take effect. president obama said he is not going negotiate with congress.

so it raises the question, if he is not going negotiate congress, how are they going to get it done? congress is digging in and house republicans saying they are not going to aagree to an increase in the debt limit unless it's equalled by dollar for dollar spending cuts and depositions saying they are not signing off on that, they believe it will take a huge bite out of sbeel s entitlements and that is all coming as the noungsment of a appointment of a new head of treasury, secretary of the treasury, former chief of staff, jack lew, some say he is a big spend democrat, they feel they cannot work with him. white house said he is exactly in line with what the president wants to do. which is to make sure that any deal includes spending cuts and new revenues and taxes. so we are heading toward yet another fiscal cliff, this one over the debt ceiling and really

no end in sight as to how it will be resolved. >> kristen, thank you so much. i want to bring in msnb contributor, jared bernstein, jumping off point of where kristen left off with the potential conon formation of jack lew. jack lew would be a new player in this mix, because we have got the same old players. do you think that he could help break the chemistry experiment? >> well, he has been playing in the same sand box for a while. he has been negotiating deals since he was the director of the office of management and budget which is of course, at the heart of fiscal deals before he became the president's chief of staff. he has a long history of closing

pretty complicated fiscal deals including things like the budget control act which is essentially running the government right now. so, i don't think that having jack in the mix hurts the prospects at all. if anything, he is a tough negotiator and he has been successful in the past. what is going to have to happen here, unless you want to start talking about pretty crazy solutions like the trillion dollar coin, what has to happen is compromise, much like i believe the president has laid out. if we want to do another trillion dollars deficit reduction, that is what it takes to stabilize the debt. it makes sense to do half on the revenue and half on the spending side. to do all one or the other is not what lew will bring to the table. >> because of lew's experience, appea as we look at it, he may be a fresh face, but we know how he operates. and it's written that during the

2010/2011 debt ceiling debate that some republicans were not that happy with lew, and it's written that they found him obnoxious, he was doing most of the talking and lecturing why the president's plan was superior to the republicans. and boehner's chief of staff found his tone disrespectful and dismissive. how do you think it change with secretary before his name? >> i worked with jack lew, what you read does not resonate. you have to remember back then, lew was arguing with the tea party. the tea party they bring negotiations to the table. -- the position, so this is not something new to him. i am quite confident that he will be confirmed again. this is a guy who back in the

1980s helped to negotiate a social security deal that was very bipartisan. 1997 a bipartisan balanced budget that led to a surplus, not a deficit of over $200 billion in 2000. he dusted it up with the republican party back then and frankly he needed to. >> i want to move on to something more light hearted conversation. the buzz about creating a trillion dollar coin. treasury spokesman is saying that the treasury department nor the federal reserve feels that it should be producing a platinum coin. ultimately how does it work? it sounds completely bizarre. >> it's a bizarre solution to a more bizarre problem and i think many people, myself included thought that the trillion dollar

coin solution was absolutely ridiculous. but it would be more ridiculous to breech the debt ceiling and have this default inflicted on us by a congress who is engaging in deep political malpractice. i do not get why if white house keeps taking these issues like the 14th amendment, the trillion dollar coin as crazy as they sounds off the table. if they mean that they are not going negotiated with republicans on the issues they need that kind of a policy measure in their back pocket. the frankly, i think it's unconstitutional for the congress to force the president into a default situation. so he should be able to go to the credit markets and borrow. >> jared, thank you, great to see you. >> thank you. >> as the white house looks for the ways to reduce gun violence, the gun industry is not the only one under pressure. the $60 million a year video game industry is under pressure

as well. joining me now is daniel greenberg, he is the chairman of anti-censorship. sure, it's great to have you on with me today, before vice president biden met with gaming industry representatives at the white house yesterday, your organization and others in the industry, they sent the vice president a letter urging him not to point blame at the violent video game industry. on morning joe this week, we had new jersey governor chris christie on talking about those games specifically. >> i do not let games like call of duty in my house for ps3 and xbox. that is hour decisiour decision. you cannot tell me that a kid playing that over and over again, does not desensitize that child to the real life effects of violence. >> what is your argument to say that it does not add to that

desensitiza desensitization of children. >> i do not need to make that argument because the research shows that it does not cause real world violence. governor christy is wrong, i do not have to tell him that, because the science tells him that. >> there was a poll, saying that parents think in video games contributes to a culture of violence. 89% of parents polled, point the finger of violence to tv and movies. what do you say to the parents every day, everything americans that are saying that as a parent, they look at it and feel that way that these violent video games add something to the culture of youth they are raising? >> well, first of all, i support the rights of any parent to not buy any product that they do not want to buy for their children.

and that is why the video game industry has spent a long time cataloging and creating ratings systems and labeling descriptions on every game that is sold in the stores so they know what is it in so they do not have to buy it for their children. the science points to something different that the science shows that and this is confirmed by the surgeon general and by the supreme court that video games are not posing danger for adults or children. >> when we look at 2008, the stats, game makers have spent $20 million on lobbying and million s more on campaign donations. in is to help prevent a crack down in the gaming industry. still though, we see what happen happeneds -- what happens in the gaming industry. a way to make the games sellable again, or the next generation is

to make them more violent or to allow for higher style weaponry to be used in these violent games. so, is that something, i mean, so there's nothing that you think that the gaming industry needs to look at to be a part of this conversation? you are would just like to say you are as obstinate as the nra and you cannot contribute? >> not at all, part of what we put in the letter to vice president biden who by the way did not blame the industry for violence i note in his remarks. as part of the letter to biden, we said that even if we are not part of the problem, we are willing to be part of the solution. we are interested in contributing to -- to reducing america's problem with violence. and some of the things that we suggest are games are powerful teaching tools and then the teaching potential of games has not been well explored at all. there are some people working in the video game field, some of

our members who are working on games for conflict resolution, games for anti-bullying. there are people working on health games to help people who have to take -- who have mental problems to make sure they stay on their medication to gameify people staying, helping themselves to remain safe and to not be a danger. there are many, many things that the gaming industry wants to do to help with this problem. one issue though is that the government has been very slow to fund gaming technology as a source of promoting health and promoting well-being. in part because of the myth that this perception that games actually cause violence. >> daniel, i was going to say, the myth that they cause violence, the nra pointed the finger at you specifically himself saying that violent video games are more to cause for the culture of violence in our country than actually guns in this hands of people do.

so, what is your bhej to the nra, does the gaming industry have a message to the nra? >> our message to the nra is the same as the message to everyone. look at the science. the supreme court looked at all the science when the forces of sentence s -- censorship wanted to ban the games and it was roundly rejected. there's no evidence that violent video games cause violence and there's good evidence, good research coming out now that video games even violent video games have benefits. helping to reduce aggression. when people are feeling stressed and angry and they play a video game that has violence in it, they often come out feeling less stressed and angry afterwards. and violent video games are only sold to adults, children cannot buy them, adults can buy them and play them themselves. >> daniel, thank you for taking time out for me, i appreciate

it. >> thank you. >> absolutely. ach began president, has returned home. and the earth guesting hotter, this year maerked the hottest year on record, how do we analyze this? we will talk about that next. you are watching msnbc. [ man ] ring ring... progresso this reduced sodium soup says it may help lower cholesterol, how does it work? you just have to eat it as part of your heart healthy diet. step 1. eat the soup. all those veggies and beans, that's what may help lower your cholesterol and -- well that's easy [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.

so as it turns out 2012 became the hottest year that we experienced in the u.s., is since we started keeping records over a century ago. the average temperature was 55 degrees, higher than the previous record we set in 1998.

bill nye the science guy is joining me. last year, the hottest year in the u.s. in both of our lifetimes. how much are we as humans to blame for what we are seeing on the planet? >> well, the word to blame is just a feature when you have 7 billion people living on a planet where the atmosphere is barely an hour and a half of highway driving straight up. we have changed the climate, this is a fact. this is the warmest year in the lower 48 ever since records have been kept. and the was the second strangest year around the world as far as remarkable weather events goes. >> i want to show that to everyone, about the remarkable weather events around the world, if we leak at the front page of "new york times" we are showing flooding in england and brush fires in australia. this wild weather that is in the history book force 2012.

can we put a finger on the catalyst to the freakish weather or do we just expect it because the planet is living and breatheding and has changes? >> not to fine tune your words. it's not really a catalyst, we have put extra greenhouse gases in the air. carbon dyoxide and so it's getting warmer still. now the sooner we get to work on the problem, the sooner we can address it. we have had this difficulty in the science community of what is essentially a conspiracy theory, people that have equated scientific uncertainty plus or minus a few degrees, it's

completely wrong. it's not accurate thinking. so, we need to, it would be very good to find a way to get the conspiracy theoryists to come around, that would be good to do. but in the meantime, the quicker we start working on sustainable forming of energy, doing more with less, the sooner we can get going the better for everyone in the world. as i say, the earth will be here whether we are here or not. what we want to do is make it as liveable as possible in the coming decades. >> when you talk about the conspiracy theories, you believe there's a problem with global warming. >> you lost me. yeah, we just hung up, robert, thomas i don't know if you can hear me. >> yeah. >> we just -- runaway, but it was -- thank you for listening as far as you did. >> i think we are having a problem with the connection.

can you still hear me? all right. we have a problem with our connection, sorry about that. but our thanks to bill for joining me today. former congressman barney frank wants to get back to washington and soon. he has been talking about lobbying for the senate seat if kerry goes to secretary of state. is he close tore making it a reality? we will see, keep it locked in here to msnbc. at a dry cleaner, we replaced people with a machine. what? customers didn't like it. so why do banks do it? hello? hello?! if your bank doesn't let you talk to a real person 24/7, you need an ally. hello?

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[ bop ] [ bop ] [ bop ] you can do that all you want, i don't like v8 juice. [ male announcer ] how about v8 v-fusion. a full serving of vegetables, a full serving of fruit. but what you taste is the fruit. so even you... could've had a v8. >> i just believe that i'm better prepared based on what i have done to do this. it's not that i would be the best interim senator ever, but with these issues -- >> that was former congressman barney frank speaking on "hard ball" about his desire to carry

out john kerry's term in the senate. he got a big endorsement from the "the boston globe." more than anyone now in the senate, frank knows where potential savings can be found. it's time for a visit to the political playground and chris rock is using his special blend of humor for gun control. he said that guns should be only given if you have a mortgage. if you go to jail for 30 years, you have to pay your mortgage. >> georgia congressman is feeling the heat after putting his foot in his mouth trying to defend todd aiken. >> he went on and said, you know, situation of rape, of a legitimate rape, a woman's body has a way of shutting down so that pregnancy would not occur. he's partly right on that. i'm a obgyn doctor.

>> you will recall that todd aiken torpedoed his campaign when he made that comment, he said that the comments misconstrued his feelings on the topic. what do eagle and other names such have in common? they are all mission names. the former president's protection act reversed a law that protected presidents. some of the best talent in the game are lining up to perform at the president's inauguration. stevie wonder has added and othed his name to the list as has

others. president baim has made four picks for his remade cabinet, four are white, four are men. is there a pattern? we will look at that and the president said that the longest war is winding down but that does not mean the troops are heading home soon. keep it locked in to msnbc, the place for politics. [ male announcer ] this is sheldon, whose long dy setting up the news

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titles and barred from all olympic competition after the anti-u.s. doping agency released evidence that he took performance-enhancing drugs. a quick look at the news that is topping the half hour p maryland is reporting the first casualty of the flu season. number of cases reported is now more than triple the total from last year. from the 94 cases confirmed over the last ten days, ten patients have been admitted into intensive care in maryland. more than 100 people have been killed in french air strike, mali's government and france, the former colonial ruler are fighting to drive out islamist rulers. and former president bill clinton returns to haiti. more than 300,000 people were killed in that disaster, and a million more were displaced.

president obama today told the american people the 11-year long afghanistan war is winding down. >> in the coming months, i'll announce the next phase of the draw-down and by the end of next year, america's war in afghanistan will be over. >> so this statement comes the day after the president met with afghan president, the hamid karzca karzai in d.c. we are going to speak to our correspondent. she will be leaving us shortly, it's great to have you here face to face so we can talk more about this. so, when we look at what president karzai and president obama's meeting meant, what does it mean going forward for those american military families that are looking for a drawdown and to know specificing about what 2014 means? >> i think what it means is we will see the american troops slowly leaving afghanistan.

right now we do not know how many will be left behind after the combat mission officially ends at the end of 2014. right now they are still trying to figure out how many troops will be left behind to continue to counterterrorism effort that will still be in afghanistan after 2014, both president obama and president karzai making it very clear that they want the american troops out and the afghan troops to take the lead when it comes to the fight against terrorism there. >> you a sit down with president karzai last month when he talked about what it has meant for insurgency issues for american troops to remain there. very open and very candid interview prior to coming to d.c. and then when he had the first meetings with the senate and he was asked what it means for the troops after 2014, did he not answer.

he said that the committee ov overseeing it told him not to. it's interesting sitting down with you and the difference in sitting there. >> when he sat down with us, he made it very clear that he wants sovreign afghanistan. he wants the prisons under afghan hands. that was promised and still is not completely. the immunity for american soldiers after 2014 cannot be discussed until other things are settled. they may not leave any troops behind if they do not give immunity to american soldiers. they are playing the game, both sides making demands. >> what is the reaction to hearing about chuck hagel, to potentially being confirmed as the new secretary of defense whar

what is the reaction in afghanistan? >> i can tell you with the afghan officials, they will work with anyone, but at the same time, they do in the think that americans will not have a say on their future. when you talk to them, they say, it doesn't matter to them. >> no matter who is in the post, they do not see them as working with them in the capacity they have in the past? >> they say they want the afghans taking the lead, that even means when it comes to washington decisions. >> safe travels, thank you for joining us. the president had more on his plate than afghanistan, he is trying to put together a team to successfully craft his second term agenda. that is meaning a cabinet. we are our guests with us. it's great to have you all here and you know, a lot has been made of the first four of the

president's major appointments. they are all white men. heather has the president fallen short of the diversity standard that he set in the first administration? >> if you look at the totality of his cabinet, he put together a diverse cabinet that is about as on par with diverse as the clinton administration and more diverse than the bush administration. it's important to step back and see why it matters at all. if you look at the out going secretary of labor, who was a child of immigrant parents. they were labor organizers and her father caught lead poisoning from his work on the job, that kind of life experience, in a country that is from a very different walk of life than those in the beltway, that is why it matter. to bring in the experience that the american people actually have. >> when you talk about that, we

have other posts to take about. we have the labor secretary that is leaving, as is the epa chief, lisa jackson, another force coming reported departure. steven chu and rob kirk, as the president tries to build the inner circle, is it a team of rivals approach to more of allies, to cement his legacy after he leaves? >> we get that impression. and as a matter of fact, i will have to be the first one to suggest that maybe he can borrow mitt romney's binders to get more women in the cabinet. the fact is that there's groups that say women make up the half of the population, that the cabinet should be half female and some people would say, gee, that is extreme.

but why is it? all the positions you were naming a moment ago have women who are qualified to fill them. we have not gotten to the point in this administration, where there's the gender diversity that there could be. >> when we talk about the qualifications that have been made so far, i want to talk to you about chuck hagel. he is obviously qualified and well-respected. first soldier to hold to position as a vietnee y vet, ar looking for the president to put other republican names out there, or is this it? >> when you ask about diversity, it's about how you define diversity. yes, the president may not be naming enough women in some groups but others see the first african american president

selecting chuck hagel for the defense department. he is a he republican former senator and for instance, for the treasury department, he picked jack lew, a orthodox jew, it's about how you define diversity. >> we will talk more about what is taking place in washington, d.c., the gun task force and what the nra has said, as they try to give the perception that they have the upper hand in the gun control debate. but other gripes are willing to change it all. stay here on msnbc. [ male announcer ] where do you turn for legal matters? at legalzoom, we've created a better place to handle your legal needs. maybe you have questions about incorporating a business you'd like to start. or questions about protecting your family with a will or living trust. and you'd like to find the right attorney to help guide you along, answer any questions and offer advice. with an "a" rating from the better business bureau

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change. ? all right, so let's dig in on this one, it was an interesting hour i had the last hour, talking with someone who is helming up the gun appreciation day weekend. the washington post reporting that the white house and liberal action groups hope to shift public opinion toward stricter gun laws. and the post said that the president pushes the legislative agenda, and that pillars of his agenda and independent groups are raising money and coming up with strategies to get legislation through congress. can they beat the nra at their own game? >> i think you have seen liberals active on gun control for decades. but the question is, as the gun debate continues, will they put

money towards ads? will they start going after politician ans that are working against the gun control lobby? >> the nra said they have signed 100,000 new members since the shooting at sandy hook. does that signal the growing support for the nra? all this conversation that we have had in covering this has almost been a commercial for the nra. >> i think the pr folks would like you to think it signals support. they did not show how many members they lost. most importantly the public opinion polls show, that even people who are gun owners themselves think there are rules that can be put in place to make sure it's not easy to go hunting people with assault-style weapons. this is one of those things where unfortunately the role of money and politics in washington means that most of the republicans who get money and endorsements from the nra are

really far out of step even with their own constituents. it's a question of whether or not the sort of broad mainstream of the country will be heard and not just about liberal interest groups or gun lobbyists but rather, you know, your mother, your aunt, your father, your neighbor are going to be able to really be represented by the members in washington. >> so, among the new anti-gun violence groups that are popping up, one is headed by former congresswoman gabrielle giffords and her husband. bob, does the power of the individuals behind these groups then give the gun control agenda a bigger boost? bigger figure heads? >> absolutely. i mean, these are very compelling figures. but if they are going to do television oipds i'm intrigued by that. they have to go beyond the political debate here and get at the entire culture.

in the united states of america. we have a love affair with these instruments of death and it has been created over generations and generations, certainly at least a couple of generations of cowboy movies where there was killing without consequence, so somebody has to address that and to talk about the consequences of shooting somebody and the dangers of having a weapon anywhere neerp you. >> when we look at took place in the weeks. after newtown, gun sales soared. there was a record 2.2 million criminal background checks performed for people buying guns. i brought it up before, about it being a gun commercial. can gun control groups get an upper hand with an increasing number of guns out there in the public's hands? >> i think there's a big difference between having a gun and having basically a loophole high school system -- loophole

system of rules that allows high capacity magazines and clips. nobody is talking about universal bans on handguns, when we think of what common sense regulations that there can be, that actually doesn't do anything to sort of address what happened in december, which is, you are right, a lot of people got scared and wanted to arm themselves. we do live in a culture that is far too violent and full of fear. >> one thing that came out of the listening sessions in the white house with the vice president, he made mention about magazine clips, when giving a post debrief about his meetings. is that where the white house is going to be seen to have made a successful inroad in legislation is to do it small and

increment incrementally? >> he is driving the political and legislation conversation on the issue. what you are hearing on capitol hill is the discussion of high capacity magazines like we heard from vice president biden but you are hearing chatter on both side about better background checks. >> we will keep the brain trust around, stick around as all of you, the big final question i want you to think about. the debt ceiling. the fight ahead on capitol hill. who will win out on that and who will pull out all the tricks they need to do make themselves the champ. [ lisa ] my name's lisa, and chantix helped me quit. i honestly loved smoking, and i honestly didn't think i would ever quit. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix is proven to help people quit smoking. it reduces the urge to smoke. it put me at ease that you could smoke on the first week. [ male announcer ] some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation,

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>> developing news coming to us out of washington, d.c., the treasury department and federal reserve are rejecting minting a platinum trillion dollar coin,

it was mentioned as a way to dodge the debt ceiling fight. there are two options, congress can pay its bills or it can fail to act and put the nation into default. so we are back with our brain trust, we have heather, and rob, and robert costas on that big news that the trillion dollar coin will not be made, hearts at louis vuitton are crushed. so, they do not have to worry about that. so let's get to the one big last question. heather, i will start with you, the big battle in washington the debt ceiling. who will win? >> the democrats are -- and the president are going to have to win this. because too much is at stake. i mean, if we look at what actually is driving the nation's debt. we have two war thars that were on a credit card. we've a medicare part-d that was

a huge give away to the pharmaceutical companies. and the bush tax cuts. those are the biggest drivers of the nation's debt and now republicans are saying we spent the money and the commitments but we do not want to pay the bill because we want to try to shut down the government and enforce more spending cuts that will directly put americans out of work and will stop us from being able to do what we need to do to invest in our nation's future. it's really not good. >> what is your take on this, bob, considering the boehner rule, trying to get a spending cut for every dollar for the debt ceiling? >> well, there will be rules and demands but i think the discussion about the trillion dollar coin shows how cheesy things can get. we have a situation where we have this discussion, kind of discussion and you it's a kind of thing that really makes you

wonder about the dignity of the united states government. >> is the president there, bob? is that hail to the chief? >> guess who didn't turn off his phone. >> and now we know your ring tone. robert, last question to you. the debt ceiling. >> it's a great question. i think republicans are manning the barricades, they are going to the demand spending cuts. we know that the president said that he will not negotiate with house republicans as this debt ceiling approaches. remember, represents are under political pressure, especially the speaker of the house. because republicans are frustrated about how the fiscal cliff went, to now they are looking at the debt ceiling. >> we will watch and see, i love that we got to find out that bob franken's ring tone was "hail to the chief." >> you know who was that? my wife.

>> smart man. >> she demanded that ring tonight. >> what is yours heather? >> birds chirping. >> peaceful. >> and yours? >> a generic telephone ring. >> my agents use the theme from jaws, now you know. >> made for good tv to think that the president was walking in on your shot there and maybe joining us for an exclusive. my thanks to all three of you. thanks, gang, i really appreciate it. that will do it for me today, thank you for spending three hours with me, it's been a wild afternoon, hasn't it? join us tomorrow afternoon right here for the latest political news and analysis and be sure to tune in to "meet the press." that is when david gregory will interview general colin powell. in the meantime, keep it right here for the very latest in news and updates throughout the

evening and we bid you a fond saturday afternoon farewell. have a great weekend, everyone, take care. [ male announcer ] rocky had no idea why dawn was gone for so long... ...but he'd wait for her forever, for any reason, and would always be there with the biggest welcome home. for a love this strong, dawn only feeds him iams. compared to other leading brands, it has 50% more animal protein. ...to help keep rocky's body as strong as a love that never fades... if he ever lets her leave again. iams. keep love strong.